Who Should I Start? Cade Stover or AJ Barner

Wednesday, January 21, 8:44 PM

Houston Texans tight end Cade Stover's (knee) MRI exam showed no damage to his ACL, a league source told Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 Sports. Stover was unable to make much happen after fellow tight end Dalton Schultz (calf) left the Divisional Round loss to the New England Patriots before getting hurt himself in the fourth quarter. The 25-year-old caught one of his three targets for only two yards. The good news is that Stover should be a full-go for training camp in the summer and for Week 1 of the regular season in the fall. In his second year in the league, the former fourth-rounder caught just 12 passes for 76 yards and no touchdowns on 16 targets in nine regular-season games. As long as Schultz is healthy going into the start of the season, Stover won't be fantasy relevant. He had a 15-133-1 line in 15 games in 2024 in his rookie campaign.

Saturday, January 3, 6:21 PM

Seattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner has picked up his play over the last few weeks. Barner has taken over as the primary tight end in this offense with Elijah Arroyo (knee) being sidelined since Week 15. Since then, Barner has hauled in 10 receptions for 119 yards and two touchdowns. The 23-year-old has been making the most of his increased playing time. He should be able to offer at least high-end TE2 value for the upcoming Week 18 matchup versus the San Francisco 49ers. The Seahawks need to win to secure the No. 1 seed, so Barner should see a full workload.